Parhum Delgoshaei Chelsea Green Divyang Prateek Michael Sadowski Vinod K. Lohani

Abstract Assessment

Enhancing Environmental Awareness of Freshman Engineering Students through Real-Time Monitoring with LabVIEW Software

Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy, Feb 3rd – Feb 4th 2011, Virginia Tech, National Science Foundation DLR Grant 0431779 and NSF-REU Site Grant 0649070

Data from impaired stream: outdoor LabApplications in Environmental Monitoring

LabVIEW dataflow is well suited for collection, processing and communication of environmental data and can be used to teach sustainability concepts.

A new module for EngE 1024 focusing on water quality monitoring of an impaired on-campus stream and its applications in environmental sustainability was introduced in fall ‘09

Water quality monitoring will enable us to explore answers for questions such as: What are the natural ranges and the storm, seasonal and annual variability in

water quality parameters? What locations do parameters fall outside the natural range and to what

duration and extent? What are the pollutant loadings from controllable and uncontrollable sources

and in the watershed?

Contact: pd1352@vt.edu, seagreen@vt.edu, divyang@vt.edu, michas2@vt.edu, vlohani@vt.edu

Conclusion and Future Directions

LabVIEW programming language gradually integrated in a freshman engineering course, EngE 1024, Fall ’07 – Spring ’10

LabVIEW Enabled Watershed Assessment System (LEWAS) developed to remotely monitor water and weather quality parameters in real-time

Monitoring takes place in real-time through a web-based interface and system parameters such as sampling time can be changed remotely

Collected data used to raise awareness of environmental sustainability System indoor function verified: real-time streaming to EngE 1024 students

(Fall ’10) and outdoor deployment to impaired stream (to be completed S’11) It is anticipated that LEWAS would raise students’ environmental

awareness

Virginia Tech’s campus; site indicated by star

Future site of deployment (planned completion, May ‘11). Mounting

poles in place, solar panel, batteries and wireless to be installed

• Access to real-time environmental data can enhance my awareness and curiosity about environmental issues such as the state of an impaired stream that runs through campus.

•LabVIEW can be used to provide students with real-time environmental data from an impaired on-campus stream and enhance their environmental awareness•The impact of access to environmental data in real-time on student

interest and motivation will be investigated when the system is fully functional in the field.•Showing the value of environmental monitoring•Showing that students have the ability to apply the programming

language (LAbVIEW) in real-world application

Live Demonstration in EngE 1024: Virtual Instrument front panel shows real-time data from a multi-probe sonde in an indoor laboratory

LabVIEW Web Publishing

Internet

ENGE 1024 Lecture

Real-Time Water Quality Data in Classroom

compactRio embedded computer: processing, storing, transmitting data (wireless)

Water Quality Sonde

LabVIEW program loaded on compactRio

LabVIEW Dataflow Programming

Equipment Setup for DAQ Activity

LabVIEW output of temperature probe readingsData flow programming approach is suitable for many engineering applicationsData Acquisition (DAQ) activities demonstrate how data can be collected from physical phenomena such as temperature and processed in dataflowIn-Class activity allows students to derive Newton’s law of cooling by applying regression on collected data to arrive at equation relating temperature and timeDAQ extended to processing environmental data

Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Specific Conductivity

Temperature, Barometric Pressure, Relative Humidity,Precipitation, Wind Speed

Velocity, Flow, Volume

Weather Station

Flow Meter

• My knowledge of watersheds and local water quality problems was enhanced by the "Know your Watershed" worksheet.

Strongly Disagree

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• Rate the LabVIEW programming activities done in this course (in-class, workshop, and homework) in conveying basic programming concepts.

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Good

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